Meet The Team

David joined the TCR Hub as Charity Director in August 2026, bringing more than thirty years of leadership experience across the charity and public sectors. His career has included senior roles in social work, mental health services, charity leadership and organisational transformation, giving him a deep understanding of how strong community services can change lives.

David previously served as Director of Services at Help for Heroes, where he led national programmes, strengthened governance, and expanded support for veterans and families. More recently, he has focused his work more locally, supporting charities such as the 700 Club and Darlington Assistance for Refugees to build resilience, secure long‑term funding, and improve operational systems.

At TCR Hub, David is committed to developing a values‑led, inclusive, and sustainable charity that reflects the creativity and spirit of the local community. He is passionate about collaboration, good governance, and creating opportunities for people to connect, grow, and thrive.

to come

Tom Whittaker is Duty Manager at the TCR Hub and has a keen interest in the music department.

Tom has played the drums for over 14 years and has been in a number of bands. He taught drums at TCR before the Hub itself was built, whilst studying an A level in Music Technology. He left TCR in 2008 in order to go to university and graduated with a BA honours in Creative Music Technology.

Having worked in various projects Tom then moved to Middlesbrough where he worked on various freelance sound design projects.

Having returned to the Hub, Tom is now a key member of the team with many years experience of working at the TCR Hub.

Rachel began her career working with the community running an after school club in her hometown of Leyburn, North Yorkshire 20 years ago. This experience inspired her to plan a career with children and young people on completing her uni degree, 5 years later. By this time she’d moved to County Durham and began working with the Local Authority as an Education Welfare Officer, Connexions Adviser, Youth Worker and then Teacher. Rachel had great mentors at Staindrop School, who encouraged her to train as a Secondary Teacher. She continued to work in the community with Joe at TCR and Dianne Spark at UTASS. She also spent a few years at the YMCA in Barnard Castle and briefly managing Oxfam in the town for 12 months!

Since leaving formal education Rachel has not looked back and loves working in the voluntary sector. She still delivers the Duke of Edinburgh Award from the Hub, which she says helps to remind her what youth and community work is all about.

Rachel has worked hard alongside the staff team to ensure that the Hub is sustainable and a good quality resource for the region. “We are getting there and our profile is constantly rising. Managing a charity today can be tough – nothing can be taken for granted, the climate is forever changing and I have to be very enterprising in my approach to management.”

The effort is all worth it when we get a great review or feedback, and even a rare negative one pushes me to improve our service further!!”

Sarah Gent joined the TCR Hub team in September 2020 to run Family Activities as part of the National Lottery funded project. She has since headed up creative projects and family work before becoming interim joint Operations Manager from June 2025 - May 2026.  She is now Creative and Community Lead on a part-time basis, usually Tuesday and Fridays. She also works at Highlights Rural Touring as a Community Programmer. 

Sarah has twenty years of Marketing and Communications expertise, including working for The Witham arts centre as well as running her own business. She is a Lowland Leader, Linocut printmaker and workshop facilitator as well as running creative community events and activities that will be of interest to children, young people and adults alike, both inside and out.

Sandie works part-time .Sandie has been been part of the Hub team for many years. Sandie processes and prepares financial requirements for the purpose of facilitating purchases, arranging invoices and responding to queries.

Sandie moved to Teesdale from her native Glasgow around ten years ago and prior to moving worked as an Accounts Assistant for Harper Collins. 

As finance roles can be quite solitary, Sandie enjoys being part of the bigger team and loves that there is always a buzz about the Hub and the diversity that it can bring to her role – often no two weeks are the same!

Alison first became involved with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at the hub when her eldest two children were working towards their awards. At first, she helped with the admin side of the award and then gradually became more involved working with the youngsters on all aspects on their award. Now she regularly assists with training and expeditions. She is now keen to gain more qualifications to become more involved with the expedition training.

‘I achieved my Gold DofE award when I was 18. I still have amazing memories of the experience and made great friends who I am still in touch with. My Aunty inspired me to get involved with the award as she was a DofE leader/assessor for many years and showed her enthusiasm for getting young people involved. I would now like to pass on my experience and enjoyment to the youngsters that come through The Hub’.

Although Alison’s background is working as a teacher in Primary Schools she enjoys working with teenagers and can use many of her skills needed in education for helping the youngsters achieve their award.

Louisa is our community chef and is passionate about helping the local community through the medium of food. She makes food for our family social group, community lunches and utilises excess fareshare food to create a variety of dishes including soups and cakes, which are sometimes used in care packages and school projects. Louisa also bakes cakes for our breastfeeding support group and our tea and tots group.

Before Covid Louisa previously worked at the hub in the cafe and is pleased to be back working as part of the hub team.

In her spare time Louisa enjoys walking her two cocker spaniels and reading books, especially murder mysteries. She also loves listening to music, particularly Elvis, The Killers, Sam Fender and Jack Savoretti.